


Someone to Stay - One Quote, One Shot

by MagnoliasInBloom



Category: Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 12:07:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20081935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagnoliasInBloom/pseuds/MagnoliasInBloom
Summary: Part of the "One Quote, One Shot" challenge over on Tumblr. My assigned quote is:Claire wrapped her legs around his hips in answer and pulled him closer. “Would you stop?” she asked.“No. I can’t.” They laughed together, and rocked slowly, lips and fingers exploring in the dark.





	Someone to Stay - One Quote, One Shot

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the "One Quote, One Shot" challenge over on Tumblr. My assigned quote is:
> 
> Claire wrapped her legs around his hips in answer and pulled him closer. “Would you stop?” she asked.
> 
> “No. I can’t.” They laughed together, and rocked slowly, lips and fingers exploring in the dark.

Claire had thought Jamie’s flight was delayed. She had not expected him home for a few more hours. This is how she came to be surprised by him, sitting on the edge of the tub in their own home, with a pregnancy test in her shaking hands.

She could only stare helplessly at Jamie, who was also frozen in place as he gripped the doorknob. “Sassenach?”

“You didn’t knock.”

“Ye didna hear me.”

Her hands trembled once more before he noticed and immediately came to kneel before her.

“Is it…”

“Give it a minute.” Claire smiled nervously.

Jamie’s eyes didn’t dare hope. He braced himself for a negative answer. He could withstand _that_ particular pain, and so could his wife, he knew well. She had already endured so much.

Claire had suffered gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, not to mention the intense scrutiny through all her pregnancy that came from being married to a world-famous rockstar. To buy them some peace of mind, Jamie had bought a beautiful home in Richmond, near London. There, they had shared the company of other celebrities such as Tom Hardy and Sir David Attenborough. They walked—free of papparazzi—along the Thames, and ate often at The Orange Tree. They had privacy. They had normalcy. Then they had a baby.

Their daughter had had a rather difficult birth. Claire had labored for almost 36 hours and was running a low-grade fever before Joe Abernathy intervened and urged her to get a C-section. She would never forget the look of utter terror in Jamie’s eyes as they wheeled her into the operating room. The blue sheet went up, shielding them (or Jamie, more like) from the gruesome sight of blood.

Jamie, nearly out of his mind with worry, had stood by her and sat next to her while Claire and a team of doctors strived to bring their daughter into the world. Such was the ordeal, that all Jamie could whisper in prayer in the operating room was, “Have faith, Sassenach, have faith!” And they did. Faith Ellen Fraser currently slumbered in her “big-girl bed”, had her father’s gift for music, could speak Gaelic fluently for a four-year-old, hated peas, and would have loved to welcome a sibling.

All of this raced through their minds while Claire held the pregnancy test. This could be a chance at expanding their family. They had not been actively trying, but they had not _not_ been trying, either. As always, their lovemaking was a risk and a promise. Jamie held her life in his hands every time they went to bed together, but Claire held his heart.

Now she might hold a piece of their souls, contained in a single plastic wand.

Claire’s phone, lying on the nearby vanity, sounded an alarm. Claire’s whisky eyes met Jamie’s azure gaze, regret and longing, tenderness and hurt all at once.

“Jamie, you look. I don’t think I can—”

He took his hand in hers, steadying. She willed herself to relax, and relinquished the test. Jamie took a deep breath, with a quick prayer to Mary, Michael, and Bride—and a soft _maybe, please_ to his Mam’s spirit—and glanced down at the indicator window.

_Pregnant_.

“Sassenach…”

“Jamie? Yes or no?

“Aye.” His voice came out in a broken croak.

“Yes? I’m pregnant?” Claire grabbed his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder for a look.

_Pregnant_.

Claire released all her pent-up excitement in a muffled scream of joy. Jamie was still a bit shell-shocked; she took the test out of his hands and cupped his face, kissing him until he responded. Jamie’s arms came around her, squeezing gently, patting her back and his nose nuzzling her neck.

“A child. _A Dhia, moran taing!_”

In Jamie’s arms, she felt safe once more, after being stressed and anxious all day about taking the pregnancy test. Faith had been cranky, knowing her father was coming home, but too late at night to see him until next morning. Claire didn’t want the cashier at the Boots eyeing her as she purchased the test either, so she’d donned sunglasses and hopped the tube over to East Sheen. She had also stopped at a Waitrose to puke, but she ommitted that small detail as she told him about her day and her symptoms while he’d been gone on tour.

“Claire, I’d wish ye told me sooner, I‘d have come back to ye!” Jamie pulled Claire gently to her feet, caressing the ring on her finger. “It doesna seem fair that ye had to deal with this on yer own, _mo nighean donn._”

“Jamie, I know how much the tour means to you and the lads. Honestly, I thought it might have been bad sushi, like last time.”

“I ken ye haven’t eaten sushi _since_ the last time, Sassenach.” They walked hand in hand to their bedroom, sitting on the quilted bedspread. Neither of them bothered to turn on the light, illuminated by the filtered glow of the street lamp and a sweet-smelling candle she had lit earlier.

“Well, a funny tummy, you know. This is just… a baby, Jamie. Our baby, another one!” Claire shivered with excitement.

“I love ye, Claire. I love ye for giving me Faith, for giving me yer heart. I can never do enough to thank ye for that miracle. To witness it again…” Jamie trailed off, one hand on her mostly flat belly and the other tangled in the mess of her hair.

“There is one thing ye can do for me,” Claire said slyly, fingers grazing the top of his jeans. Jamie understood her immediately, but seemed hesitant.

“Sassenach, are ye sure? Won’t it hurt the bairn?”

“Of course not. We’ve been over this, with Faith, remember?” She leaned in to dot his face and neck with kisses, all the while stripping him of his jacket and shirt. He let her, but still protested weakly.

“Will it hurt ye?”

“A great big no to that as well. Off with your trousers, James Fraser.”

Groaning in surrender, Jamie pulled her own shirt over her head. She shimmied out of her comfortable leggings and underwear and lay naked under him. Skin to skin, he trailed soft kisses until he reached her navel; his fingers lingered there reverently while Claire touched Jamie’s own red curls, pushing them away from his forehead so she could meet his eyes.

Holding her gaze, Jamie moved lower, his hands sliding under her hips, kissing the inside of her thighs before he flicked his very talented tongue against her. Claire writhed, already wet for him, her own hands fisted in the sheets. Jamie teased and nipped and licked, before he slipped a finger into her core, her entire being focused on that feeling of mounting pleasure. Claire dug her heels into the mattress, her body actually bowing off the bed as she came.

“Come here,” she managed to gasp after a bit, pulling on his shoulders. Jamie crawled back over her, his body covering and sheltering. He kissed her, but with restraint. Claire kept trying to nudge him into her entrance, but Jamie resisted, shifting his body slightly.

“Jamie, please… I want you inside me.” She knew she had him with these words. And with a groan, Jamie eased himself into the heat of her, biting his lip, forcing himself not to move yet, despite her urging hands at his back.

“If ye tell me to, ye ken I will not—”

**Claire wrapped her legs around his hips in answer and pulled him closer. “Would you stop?” she asked.**

**“No. I can’t.” They laughed together, and rocked slowly, lips and fingers exploring in the dark.**


End file.
